Arch support



Feb. 19, 1935. A,BR AN 1,991,444

' ARCH SUPPORT Filed May 1, 1931 Patented Feb. 19, 1935 'IPZATEN'E OFFICE ARCH SUPPORT James A. Brogan, Lawrence, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterson, I Y N. J., a corporation of New Jersey :Application'May 1, 1931, Serial No. 534,320 13 Claims. (01. 36- 71) This invention relates to improvements in .arch supports. As herein illustrated, the invention is embodied in an arch support of the type adapted to be removablypositioned inside of a shoe, although in certain aspects theinvention may lie-embodied in a device adapted to be built intoa shoe to perform the dual function of a shank stiffener and an arch support. In its illustrated embodiment, .also,'the invention is adapted to provide support both for the longitudinal and the metatarsal arches of the foot.

One object of the invention is to provide .an arch support which will be readily adaptable to provide proper and adequate support for the arches of feet of .varying types and sizes.

To the accomplishment of this object, one feature of the invention consists in the provision of a support comprising two members constructed and arranged to provide an elongated, longitudinally arched surface adapted to afford support for the longitudinal arch of the foot, said members being relatively adjustable to vary the length of the supporting surface, and means for adjusting said members to lengthen or shorten the supporting surface.

As illustrated, one of the arch supporting members is shaped and arranged to afford support also for the metatarsal arch of the foot and the arrangement is further such that relative adjustment of the two supporting members will shift the metatarsal arch supporting surface forwardly or rearwardly as may be necessary to adapt it to fit feet of different sizes while maintaining the location of the metatarsal support in the desired constant relation to the forward portion of the supporting surface for the longitudinal arch of the foot. Preferably, the two supporting members are made of temperedsteel" and ar overlapped throughout a substantial portion of their lengths, thereby providing a support which is resilient although having sufficient stifiness to afford adequate support for the foot. As shown,.one.of the supporting members is fixedly secured to the under side of a'flex- I .ible leather filler piece which is shaped to fit the inside of the heel, shank and ball portions of a shoe and is readily conformable to the contour of the longitudinaland metatarsal arch supporting surfaces of .the metallic supporting members. J'I'he metallic supportinginembers of the illustrated arch support are connected with pro- -vision for longitudinal sliding. adjustment and means is provided for securing the members in different positions of adjustment. v

The invention further consists, in features of construction and combinations and arrangements' of parts hereinafter described and claimed. 7

The invention will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the improved arch support;

' Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a bottom planview of one of supporting members shown in Fig. 2; v

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the the line IV-IV of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line VV of Fi 2., I

Referring to the drawing, the improved arch support therein illustrated comprises afiller piece 10 of leather or other suitable flexible material and two interconnected supporting members 12 and 14 which are located at one side of the filler piece 10 and are secured to the latter by means of rivets 16 which extendthrough the filler piece and through :the' supporting member '12. The fillerpiece 10 is adapted to be placed inside of a shoe-and it isshaped in outline to correspond to the inside contour of the-heel, shank and ball portions of the shoe so that the supporting members 12 and 14 will be located in a predetermined relation to the shoe when the arch support is inserted therein- The supporting members 12 and 14 consist of elongated pieces of tempered steel.

The front portion of the supporting member 12 and the rearportion of thesupporting member .14 are each curved longitudinally, the curvature the overlapping of the memberswill not have any tendency to form a ridge in the filler piece, such as might prove to beuncomfortable to the wearer of the shoe. The front portion of'the supporting member 14 is upwardly bulged, "as indicated at 20, to provide support for the metatarsal arch of the foot. In order to impart flexibility to the bulge'20 the forward portion of the member 14 is bifurcated, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3, a narrow central notch 22 extending rearwardly from the front edge of the member 14 and terminating in an enlargement 24. This construction enables the metatarsal arch-supporting bulge .20 to yield to the pressure of the foot, the

of the foot. As shown, the central portion of the filler piece conforms to the surface curvature of the overlapped portions of the supporting members 12 and 14, as indicated at 25 in Fig. 5, and also to the contour of the bulged forward extremity of the supporting member 14 so that a corresponding bulge 28 is formed in the forward portion of the filler piece.

Provision is made for lengthening or shortening the longitudinal arch and for simultaneously shifting the bulged portion 22 of the supporting member 14,.length-wise of the shoe as may be required to adapt the support to feet of different types and sizes. To this end, the supporting members 12 and 14 are connected for longitudinal sliding adjustment. The means for connecting the members 12 and 14 comprise two ears 30 formed integrally with the member 14, the ears being turned downwardly and inwardly to overlap the lateral edges of the member 12. The members 12 and 14 are prevented from becoming disengaged, and the extent of sliding adjustment of these members is limited by means of a rivet 32 which extends through slots 34 and 36 in the supporting members 14 and 12 respectively. As shown, the shank portion of the rivet 32 is made small enough to slide freely in the slots and the rivet is provided at each end with an enlarged head 38 which overlaps the material adjacent to the sides of the slots and thus holds the rivet in place and serves, in conjunction with the ears 30', to maintain the members 12 and 14 in overlapped relation. As shown, the slot 34 extends transversely across the member 14 in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal center line of that member, whereas the slot 36 extends transversely across the member 12 but is substantially inclined relatively to the slot 34.

With this construction, movement of the rivet lengthwise of the slots will slide the supporting member 14 forwardly or rearwardly relatively to the member 12, to vary the length of the supporting surface for the longitudinal arch of the foot and the location of the metatarsalarch supporting surface. The degree of inclination of the inclined slot 36 is such, however, that the rivet 38 will not be readily moved in a direction lengthwise of the slot 36 by any force exerted through either of the arch supporting members 12 or 14 andthus the rivet, after being once adjusted, will tend to remain in adjusted position. In order, however, to insure against accidental displacement of the rivet in the slots 34 and 36 as a result of the pressure of the foot upon the sole of the shoe or any other influence directly affecting the supporting members themselves, the rear edge of the inclined slot 36 is formed with a series of shallow notches 40 affording a series of projections adapted to engage the shank of the rivet 32 for the purpose of securing the latter against accidental displacement lengthwise of the slots 34 and 36, and thus securing the supporting members l2 and 14 inlongitudinally adjusted relation.

In use the improved arch support is adjusted, by manipulation of the rivet 38, to vary the length of the supporting surface for the longitudinal arch of the foot and to shift the metatarsal arch supporting area a corresponding amount either forwardly or rearwardly of the foot, as may be required to adapt the support for the particular foot in connection with which it is to be used. After being thus adjusted the support is inserted in the shoe and the adjustment will be maintained so long as the shoe is worn unless the adjustment is changed by manipulation of the rivet 38.

As a result of the above-described construction of the improved arch support it will be seen that adjustment of the metatarsal arch supporting bulge lengthwise of the shoe results in a corresponding adjustment of the length of the longitudinal arch of the support, and that the location of the metatarsal bulge relatively to the support remains constant, the bulge being located at theforward extremity of the longitudinally arched portion of the support however the parts may be adjusted. 1

By making an arch support adjustable as described it may be adapted for use in connection with feet of different sizes and thus it becomes unnecessary to manufacture supports in a variety of sizes. It is considered preferable to make the supports in rights and lefts for use in right and left shoes (as indicated by the illustrated support, which is especially designed for a right shoe), but it may be found practicable to make the supports of a shape adapted for use in either a right shoe or a left shoe.

Having thus described by invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An arch support comprising two members constructed and arranged to provide an elongated longitudinally arched supporting surface, said members being relatively adjustable to vary the length'of said supporting surface and having manually releasable means'associated therewith for securing said members in different adjusted positions, and said means including a member mounted for movement transversely of said longitudinally arched surface, and means coacting with said member in said movement to vary the length of said supporting surface.

2. An arch support comprising two members constructed and arranged to provide an elongated longitudinally arched supporting surface, said members being relatively adjustable to'vary the length of said supporting surface, and means for adjusting said members to lengthen or shorten said surface.

3. An arch support comprising two elongated, longitudinally arched members arranged with overlapped end portions to provide an elongated longitudinally arched supporting surface, said members having the same radius of longitudinal curvature and means for connecting said members together with provision for longitudinal sliding adjustment to vary the length of said supporting surface without varying the radius of curvature thereof, said means including a manually movable member for effecting said adjustment. 1

4. An arch support comprising two members constructed and arranged to provide an elongated longitudinally arched supporting surface, said members being connected together with provision for longitudinal adjustment to vary the length of said supporting surface, means for limiting the extent of longitudinal adjustment of said members and for locating and securing tions of a shoe.

piece secured to one only of said members and having a marginal outline corresponding to that of the inside of the heel, shank and ball por- 5. An arch support comprising two members constructed and arranged to provide an elongated and longitudinally arched supporting surface, each of said members having a slot extending transversely thereof, and a -member extending through said slots and slidable therein for connecting said members together, said slots being relatively inclined to permit longitudinal adjustment of said members to vary the length of said supporting surface.

6. An arch support comprising two members constructed and arranged to provide an elongated and longitudinally arched supporting surface, each of said. members having a slot extending transversely thereof, a pin extendingthroughsaid slots and slidingly adjustable therein for connecting said members together, said slots being relatively inclined to permit longitudinal adjustment of said members to vary the length of said supporting surface, and means for securing said pin in different adjusted portions.

7. An arch support comprising two longitudinally arched members arranged in overlapped relation, one of said members having a metatarsal arch supporting bulge therein and said members being'connected with provision for relative adjustment to vary the length of the longitudinally arched supporting surface and the, location of the metatarsal ;arch supporting bulge lengthwise of a shoe in which the support is placed and each of said members having a slot extending transversely thereof, said slots being inclined. relatively to each other, and a pin extending through said slots and adaptedto be moved therein to effect such relative adjustment of said longitudinally arched members. 7

8. An arch support comprising a flexible filler piece having a marginal contour shaped to fit within the heel and shank portions of a shoe, a

resilient longitudinally arched stiffening member secured to the heel portion of the filler piece, a second resilient member having the same degree of longitudinal curvature as said first member for stiffening the shank portion of the filler piece connected with the first stiffening member with provision for adjustment lengthwise of the shoe,

and independently yieldable portions on the lastmentioned member constructed and arranged vto support the inner and outer portions of the metatarsal arch.

9. An arch support comprising an elongated longitudinally arched element comprising two parts connected with provision for sliding adjustment lengthwise of the shoe to varythe length of the arch supporting surface, one of said membars having a transverse slot therein and the other of said members having a slot extending obliquely with respect to-said transverse slot, and arivet extending through said slots and slidable therein for connecting said parts together, said rivet being movablein said slots to effect sliding adjustment of said parts. q

10. An arch support'comprising an elongated longitudinally arched element comprising two parts connectedwith provision for sliding adjustment lengthwise of the shoe to vary the length of the arch supporting surface, one of said members having a transverse slot therein and the other of said members having a slot inclined with respect to said transverse slot, a rivet extending through said slots and slidabletherein for connecting said parts together, and means associated with said inclined slot adapted to engage the shank of the rivet to secure said parts in'ad justed positions.

11. An arch support comprising an elongated longitudinally arched element comprising two parts connected with provision for longitudinal sliding adjustment to vary the length of the arch supporting surface, each of said members having a slot extending transversely therein and one of said slots being inclined relatively to the other,

a rivet extending through said slots and slidable therein for connecting said parts together, and a plurality of projections extending from one side wall of said inclined slot for engaging the shank of the rivet to secure said parts in adjusted positions. I r

12. An arch support comprising two members constructed and arranged to provide a longitudinally arched supporting surface for the longitudinal arch of the foot, one of said members having an upwardly bulged forward portion for supporting the metatarsal archof the foot, and said bulged portion havinga notch extending rear- Wardly from its forward edge and enlarged at its rear extremity to provide independently yieldable supports for the opposite ends of the metatarsal arch of the foot, and means for relatively adjusting said 'members to vary the length and height of the arch of said supporting surface.

13. An arch support comprising two members constructed and arranged to provide an elongated and longitudinally arched supporting surface, one

of said members having an upwardly bulged portion for supporting the metatarsal arch of the in for connecting said members together, said slots being relatively inclined to permit longitudinal ing said pin in different adjusted positions.

JAMES A. BROGAN.

"adjustment of said members to vary the length I of said supporting surface, and means forsecur- CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 1,991,444. February 19, I935.

JAMES A. BROGAN.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 3, first column, line 27, claim 6, for "portions" read positions; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 13th day of August, A. D. 1935.

Les! ie Frazer (Seal) Acting (lommissioner of Patents, 

